Page:The painters of Florence from the thirteenth to the sixteenth century (1915).djvu/131

1455] Mugello, not far from Giotto's home. His real name was Guido, but when, in 1407, he took the vows and entered the convent of Fiesole, he became known as Fra Giovanni. His younger brother Benedetto, who joined the Dominican Order on the same day, was not an artist but a skilled penman, who wrote out chaunts and services in the Office-books of the convent, and was Prior of San Marco when he died in 1448. The two brothers were sent to spend their noviciate at the Dominican house of Cortona. Here they were joined a year later by the whole community, who left Fiesole by night, and remained in exile during the next ten years, rather than acknowledge the schismatic Pope Alexander V., whose claims were supported by the Signory of Florence. During these ten years Fra Angelico painted a series of frescoes in the convent at Cortona, which were destroyed during the French occupation, as well as several altar-pieces. Three of these are still in existence: a Madonna and Saints, and a delicately coloured predella of the miracles of St. Nicholas at Perugia, another Madonna in S. Domenico, and the Annunciation in the Gesù at Cortona. In these Angelico shows himself to be the ablest and most advanced of all Starnina's scholars. The perspective of his buildings and the proportions of his figures are decidedly better than those of Masolino's Castiglione frescoes, while the shimmering gold of his glories and the decorative splendour of his draperies recall Lorenzo Monaco. Both of these monastic painters are remarkable for the brilliancy of their colour and extraordinary richness of their gilding. They gave their best to God, and spared neither time nor pains to make their offering worthy